The Misstep

Life is a journey of many paths and though we believe we are on the right path, we sometimes misstep and stumble. A misstep doesn't mean the path we are on is bad, but rather that we took our eyes off of the road and made a mistake. This happens much the same way as when we are walking on a sidewalk and trip over a tree root or unevenness in the concrete. The sidewalk isn't bad; we simply lost sight of the path our feet was walking on. Sometimes we are so focused on the end of a path that we try to speed up to hurry and reach our destination. In our hurry, we forget to look critically at our path, and we stumble as we take a misstep.

A misstep is a stumble and not a fall. You can regain your focus, regain your calm, and restart on your path. Stumbling is not the end. Peter, in his path to Jesus, had to walk on water. He was doing it and then he misstep (by looking down in disbelief), which made him begin to sink, but he called out to Jesus. Jesus was there to help him back on his path with His arm outstretched to Peter. Peter's misstep was not the end of his journey, but rather an opportunity to grow and learn more about his destination: Jesus. Jesus could have become upset, He could have put Peter back on the boat and walked away, but He didn't because there was more to be learned from the misstep then if Peter had walked on water perfectly in faith. God could easily prevent us from stumbling, but He doesn't. He allows for the missteps and He allows for consequences because His desire is that we would learn and that we would grown in our faith. 

As we hurry towards our destinations, eager for the path to end, we need to stop and remember that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. We will all get where we need to go, but we won't all learn what we need to know before we get there. Watch out for the missteps, do your best to stay on the path, but don't worry if you should stumble. Reach out and grab Jesus' outstretched hand, allow Him to pull you back on your path, and continue on your journey. Your path is not a track to be ran, but a journey to be enjoyed.